Exorcists issue urgent call for spiritual reinforcements

Father Pat Collins of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland is sounding the alarm – more exorcists are desperately needed.

Collins claims in an interview with The Irish Catholic the demand for exorcisms has risen "exponentially." The priest further stated the demand had only dramatically increased "in recent years."

He said he was "baffled" at the refusal of the church hierarchy to respond more forcefully to the alleged threat and suggested young clergy are less likely to even believe in the reality of demonization.

It's not just Ireland where possession is reportedly on the rise. France is witnessing the development of an entire industry as private exorcists service immigrant communities who do not identify with traditional French Catholicism. Pastors of both Protestant and Catholic denominations in the United States also claim exorcism is in increasing demand.

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The Roman Catholic Church, perhaps the denomination most closely identified with combatting demonization, thanks to films such as "The Exorcist," is scrambling to respond.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently translated the church's exorcism ritual from Latin to English for the first time in history. Additionally, the church has increased the number of exorcists operating within the United States.

Finally, the Roman Catholic Church is distributing a book to the laity entitled "Prayers Against The Powers Of Darkness" designed to keep evil spirits at bay.

The topic of demonization and exorcism is only becoming more prominent in pop culture.

The new documentary "The Devil and Father Amorth," which chronicles an Italian exorcism which takes place in 2016, recently secured a distributor.

"The Exorcist" has also been turned into a television series and a Season 3 is currently being debated by studio executives.

Yet the rise in exorcism raises serious concerns, as there have been a number of recent cases of people being abused or physically harmed while supposedly being delivered from demons.

A Moroccan woman in the Netherlands is on trial for seriously harming her son while trying to drive out "djnns," an Islamic equivalent of demons. In 2016, a Muslim exorcist was given 10 years in prison for causing the death of an 18-year-old girl during an "exorcism."

"Exorcism" has also been used as a cover for some "Christian" ministers to sexually harass women. The Christian think thank Theos warns there is an increasing risk of "spiritual abuse" as unsupervised exorcisms proliferate.

Yet despite efforts to establish control, reports of demonization and the alleged need for exorcism are likely to increase as occultism becomes an increasingly popular topic in American churches.

The mainstream media is also cheerleading the use of occult methods to defeat conservatives, including the use of "curses" by witches against President Donald Trump.

And as Karl Payne, author of "Spiritual Warfare," has observed, the endless media celebration of the occult is "softening up the senses and consciences of the people watching and involving themselves in this nonsense," opening them up to evil influences.